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Trailer park born and raised. It’s my legacy. That’s how my mama lived. And that’s how her mama lived. It’s the life I was born into and it’s the life I swore I would leave the second I was old enough to make it out.

Only legacies have a funny way of sneaking up on you. An innocent decision the night of high school graduation led to a series of complications in my plans to escape.

Seven years later, I’ve resigned myself to this small town and the roots I’m tied to. Nothing could make me leave. And nothing could make me spill the secrets that keep me here.

Until he walks back into town with a chip on his shoulder and a stupid hunch nobody else in town has been smart enough to follow.

Levi Cole is my opposite. Born on the right side of the tracks with family money to spare, he’s the kind of black sheep that can afford to be rebellious—because his family will always pay for his mistakes. He’s also the only living heir to Cole Family Farms, after his brother Logan was killed in duty seven years ago.

He sees something in my life that he thinks he has a right to. But he’s wrong. And obnoxious. And he needs to take his stubborn good looks and that intense way he looks at me and go back to wherever it was he came from.

I know better than to trust men like him. I was born and raised in a trailer park, I know nothing good happens to girls like me—girls with trailer park lives and trailer park hearts. Especially from gorgeous, kind, pigheaded men like him.

He stared at me, unspeaking, unmoving. The hurt in his eyes and the frown on his face devastated my already broken spirit.

“And I don’t even know what to tell you,” I cried some more. “Because my mistake led me to Max and for that reason I can never really regret it. But I hate how I hurt you. I hate that my mistakes meant pushing you away. I hate that I finally know how I feel about you and it’s too late.”

His eyes flashed with something so intense I gasped for breath. “How do you feel about me?” How could he ask me that now? How did he not know? How had he not always known? “Don’t make me say it,” I whispered, my voice dragged over gravel. “It hurts too much.” “Ruby,” he pleaded, his voice just as fragmented. “Say it. Please.”

I didn’t bother brushing away the tears, there were too many of them, my grief was too heavy. “I love you,” I whispered. “I’ve always loved you. I’ve just been too afraid to say it.”

Rachel Higginson is the best-selling author of The Opposite of You, The Five Stages of Falling in Love, Every Wrong Reason, Bet on Us and The Star-Crossed Series.

She was born and raised in Nebraska, and spent her college years traveling the world. She fell in love with Eastern Europe, Paris, Indian Food and the beautiful beaches of Sri Lanka, but came back home to marry her high school sweetheart. Now she spends her days writing stories and raising five amazing kids.

…Escaping his past, struggling with the present, looking towards his future.

Time… a gift, precious, fleeting, ever-changing, moving quickly…too quickly, especially for a man searching for the woman of his dreams.

That’s exactly how photographer Tommy Conte decided he would begin his new life. He left everything he knew behind in search of something special…someone special. His plan was clear. He would move to the beach, renovate an old shore house, and find the woman that he would ultimately marry…all within six months.

Was he delusional? Perhaps…yet after everything that had gone on in his life the last few years, he had to take that chance.

Then… as luck would have it, he met Jade Stanton, his new neighbor. Tommy was immediately drawn to her. He wanted and needed to know more…

Perfect right?

Wrong…

There was one small problem. Jade wasn’t looking for a long-term relationship like Tommy was. She was done…over it.She swore off anything serious with any man that came her way… until she was backed into a corner and Tommy came to her rescue.

He pretended to be her boyfriend…for just one evening. It was simple, no strings attached. It was only one night, or so she thought.

Due to circumstances beyond her control, Jade needed Tommy to play his part for a little while longer. She didn’t think it would be a problem. Tommy was fine with it and they both knew it was all just an act. Yet, Jade came to realize the more she pretended, the more she couldn’t deny that she was falling for him. Although she didn’t want Tommy to find out, Tommy knew better; he felt it too.

Tommy realized that the girl he had dreamed of was right there in front of him; and the life he wanted to share with her was finally within his grasp. He decided he couldn’t let her slip away. He wouldn’t leave it up to fate. He had to try, but Tommy also knew it wouldn’t be easy. Actually, it would be the hardest thing he ever had to do… prove to Jade that she could trust him enough to love him, as much as he loved her.

Vi Keeland is a #1 New York Times, #1 Wall Street Journal, and USA Today Bestselling author. With millions of books sold, her titles have appeared in over ninety Bestseller lists and are currently translated in twenty languages. She resides in New York with her husband and their three children where she is living out her own happily ever after with the boy she met at age six.

When I close my eyes, I still see the way he looked at me all those years ago.

The way it felt to have someone so amazing in my life, especially after my parents abandoned me.

The bond that only a childhood friend could understand.

He was my balance and never let me fall

But I lied to him…

She was my better half

I remember the fear she hid under her smile when I met her.

There were so many adventures we concocted, that we were sure we lived a hundred lifetimes in our minds.

She was the reason I got up in the morning.

She was my gravity and kept me grounded.

But then she lied…

He kept my heart when I broke his.

I was never going to see him again.

He would always hate me, even if he knew the truth.

It would be better this way.

If only he hadn’t kept my heart.

She threw my heart away when I wanted her to have it the most.

I am so full of rage – I never want to see her again.

She ruined every memory that we made with a simple sentence.

My life would be better without her.

If only she hadn’t kept my heart.

At forty-thousand feet the Earth shifted, and planets aligned. My world came into focus and for once I was no longer unsteady and ready to fall. As the winds of the plane drifted over the icy cold ocean my heart warmed when I saw him. Once I saw his eyes and the way he was looking at me I knew.

He was the balance I always needed.

… And she was mine.

London in the Past

“I’m scared,” my voice echoed across the inky night sky. My arms trembled as I hung from the edge of the concrete ledge outside of my window.

“Swing your legs over, latch onto the trellis, and then walk your hands over till you can grab on,” Logan whispered loud enough for me to hear. We only had a couple of minutes before the nuns made their rounds and caught us sneaking out.

I walked my hands one inch at a time across the hardened ledge as sweat sheenedmy body. My strained muscles were not going to hold me much longer since their idea of physical exercise was doing nothing more than writing notes to Logan every day.

“Logan,” I flinched when a piece of loose cement dug into my hand.

“Let go,” his voice reverberated in the wind as I looked down to see the drop below me. I looked for comfort in Logan’s eyes, but his dark hair was swept across his face as the storm in the distance gained momentum. Dogs barked across the field letting us know that the nuns were putting away the garden tools and would soon be circling the property before they went to bed.

“Logan,” I cried as my hand started to slip.

“Let go, I’ll catch you,” his hushed tones were hard to hear as we tried not to draw attention to ourselves. I winced at the pain and looked back up to see blood running down my forearm. “Drop London,” he quietly yelled as my eyes sought him out. There was a quiet reflection that resounded in my heart seeing him with his arms up waiting for me. At that moment, I put all my faith in him, trusted him completely, took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and just let go.

Before I could scream I felt Logan’s arms as he caught me and we both tumbled to the ground as I slammed into him and rolled away. He immediately crawled over and looked down on me ensuring I was fine without a care for himself, his fresh bruising, and the new dirt he now wore on his jean jacket.

“Are you okay?” He asked as he inspected my palm. I nodded, but a teardrop fled my eye allowing him to know I was lying. My body ached and the gash in my hand was on fire.

“Who’s out here?” Sister Katherine yelled loudly. Logan helped me up and we ran through the field till we passed the point of no return and ventured into the neighboring orchard that had been abandoned. No one could find us here. As often as it flooded we knew no one would come for us all the way out past the tree line by the water’s edge.

“Give me your scarf,” Logan demanded. I pulled it out from my belt loops and handed it to him. “Why do you wear your scarf like a belt?” He questioned me with a curious smirk. I grinned through the aches my body felt trying to find the words. I was finally feeling the full impact of the fall. My smile tried to hide the agony, but Logan could see through me.

“It was something my mom always did,” I explained when I could breathe through the discomfort. He pulled a small piece of concrete out of the tear in my palm. Then he wrapped my hand with my pink scarf as he tried to stop the bleeding. I tried to hide my wince as he tied it tight, but I failed. A soft guilty look slid across his face before he looked down at my hand again.

“I think it’s silly. It’s a scarf, not a belt,” he gave me a half smile as his lips crooked up to show me he wasn’t serious. “Your hand should be good until morning and by then we will have figured out how to explain it.”

Elizabeth has been writing for so long she has forgotten how old she is. Accustomed to southern climate she likes drinking her sweet tea on the porch with her laptop in hand. In 2015, she was named Author of the Year and received an award from over thirty blogs and a multitude of authors for her work in the community as well as for the words she wrote. Married to the military and a mother to three this woman knows how to multitask. She can handle anything you throw at her, but enjoys a quiet night with her family or a open book in her hands. Join her journey and see where she will take you next.

When she was a little girl, Michaela Snow dreamed of a life full of love and adventure, but not all dreams come true. As a widow raising her niece, Lauren, she doesn’t have time to think about what could have been, and she certainly will not allow herself to think about a certain taekwondo instructor with mesmerizing hazel eyes. Meeting Evan was never part of the plan, and now she can’t seem to get rid of him. She doesn’t want him there, however, the more he’s around, the more she finds herself reluctantly trusting him.

Evan Gibson loves his life and his job, but something is missing. After watching his friends find partners to share their lives with, he wants the same thing for himself. One night stands no longer hold the same appeal they did and so far, no woman has been able to measure up to his ideal…until Michaela.

Complications arise, threatening everything. Life is about to change. Will it tear them apart or push them together?

Sometimes it was hard seeing my friend so happy. Bryan had finally pulled his head out of his ass and got the girl of his dreams, and it was someone he never saw coming. Emma was made for him though, which made me a little jealous.

I’d always considered myself a nice guy, good-looking, tall, muscular, and yet, while I could get almost any girl I wanted, I’d never found the one. Lying deep inside me, a hopeless romantic waited—something most didn’t know about me. Bryan did, but then again, we’d known each other since junior high and he was my best friend/former roommate. My friend Chad, whom I met through Bryan, probably suspected, but he never said anything. Then again, although he’d be loathed to admit it, he’d been looking for the same thing…until Rayne.

Rayne was a work of art. Beautiful on the outside, but a decrepit, flesh falling off the bones, ugly bitch on the inside, and Chad had it out for her–not that I blamed him. I didn’t. She attacked with a vengeance and only thought about herself, but there was something in her eyes. Something hidden in the depths of a darkness few truly knew.

I knew the darkness. I understood where she’d gone, and it wasn’t a place many left without help. Sometimes, I could still feel the pull of the ghosts trying to drag me back, but I refused to go back there. I wouldn’t lose myself again.

“Sabum,” a small voice broke through the fog and cleared the air. I grinned and turned around to find one of my students standing behind me, rocking on her feet, her hands behind her back as if she were hiding something from me. Today, her hair had bright pink fuzzy something holding it in two long blonde braids. The ends were thankfully not as bright or distracting.

“Matilda,” I answered, biting the inside of my lip when I saw the disgusted face she made. She stuck out her tongue as if she’d eaten something that tasted disgusting and scrunched up her face. The first day she joined my Taekwondo dojang, she’d made almost the same face when her mother introduced her to me. Matilda had tried to hide it, but she’d failed miserably. I didn’t tell on her though. “Mattie then?”

Rolling her eyes, she sighed comically, overemphasizing everything by lifting her shoulders more than necessary and exhaling loudly. “I don’t know why it’s so hard for you to remember. You make me call you sabum because you are my teacher, why can’t you call me Mattie?”

“You’re right.” I held back my laughter. This little girl had come a long way in the year I’d been teaching her. Her mother had brought her in hoping that learning Taekwondo would give her some confidence. Mattie had been shy and quiet, unable to look me in the eyes. It took me a month to find out she had a pair of striking blue eyes. Up to that point, I only knew she had hair so blonde, it was white, and it was always in two French braids that ran down the back of her head, ending at her shoulder blades. When I’d met her, she was eight but very small. I thought she’d been in first grade, not third. The first time she watched a class and someone got thrown, she screamed and begged her mother to let her go home.

A year later, this little girl loved coming, could take on some of the kids bigger than her, and was always the first to show up for class. Such a drastic change. I wished I could say the same about some of my other students. Unlike her, some of my other students would stick to the shadows and stay in the background if they could. Fortunately, or maybe it was unfortunately for them, I didn’t allow that in my dojang.

“Sabum,” Mattie called out again.

“Hmmm?” I hummed, shaking myself from my thoughts. “What is it?”

Rolling her eyes, she put her hands on her hip. “Aren’t you the one that said we should always listen to others?”

“I did?” I stepped past her and ruffled her hair, giving her a small wink.”

“Yes.”

“Isn’t it time for you to get ready for class?”

“I suppose.” She sighed.

“Don’t sound so put out.”

“Hey, Sabum…?” Her words drifted off, but I had a feeling she wasn’t done. Clasping my hands behind my back, I waited, and it didn’t take long for her to continue. “Why are boys jerks?”

This threw me off. Boys? Was she old enough to even know the difference between boys and girls? Was she old enough to like boys? I’d admit that I didn’t have that much experience with kids outside of the dojang, which was probably for the best since I really didn’t know how to handle them besides teaching them Taekwondo.

“Sabum?” she called out to me.

“Sorry.” I smiled and patted her head. “Boys will always be jerks. Even when they are my age.” My thoughts drifted to Bryan and Chad. One had finally learned to pull his head out of his ass, but his wife still kept him on his toes, and the other…sometimes I wondered if there was any hope for him.

Her grimace reminded me of someone who just ate a lemon and didn’t like it. “Really? And you’re old.” She shook her head in disappointment.

I snorted unable to hold back my laughter any longer. “Why don’t you go and get ready and we’ll warm up as we wait for everyone else.”

When she ran off, her mother approached. “Sorry about that Evan.”

“No worries. I don’t mind at all. When I was her age, anyone twenty and above seemed old. How are things going at school?”

“Her teachers rave about her and she gets along with the other students.”

I smiled. “I’m glad.”

“Me too. She had such a hard time and now…she’s a different person. Thank you. My husband and I can’t thank you enough.”

“She did all the work,” I corrected Mattie’s mother.

“But you helped her along.” She smiled and grabbed my arm to squeeze it before walking over to the metal bleachers I had in the far corner for parents to watch their kids.

I was about to go and join Mattie when a stranger who appeared very unsure of herself entered practically dragging a little girl with messy, curly brown hair entered. The girl could have used a good hairbrush. The woman…I swallowed hard.Fuck me!Her white teeth were biting her lower lip and I half expected to see blood gushing from a wound any minute. Her brown eyes were darting from side to side, and she kept pushing a few strands of her straight golden hair that had escaped her bun, behind her ear. And the curves on this woman was enough to make my dick stand at attention.

Clearing my throat, I approached her slowly and said, “Hi. I’m Evan. Can I help you?”

Maria Vickers currently lives in St. Louis, MO with her pug, Spencer Tracy. She has always had a passion for writing and after she became disabled in 2010, she decided to use writing as her escape. She believes that life is about what you make of it. You have to live it to the fullest no matter the circumstances.

From a young age, she has always loved books and even dreamed of being an author when she was younger. Growing up in the Navy, she used to weave tales for her siblings and her friends about anything and everything. And when she wasn’t creating her own stories, she had a book in her hand. They transported her to another world. She hopes that with her books, her readers have the same experience and that they can relate to her characters.

Getting sick changed her life forever, but it also opened doors for her that she thought would always be out of reach.

I’m Avery Carmichael.
This is my story and how I fell in love with a man who only knew how to love fiercely. So fiercely you had to feel it to believe it. He let his guard down with me. I was his sun, his star, his home…only I made a choice that shattered him more than life ever could. The worst thing is if you asked me if I would do it again, my answer would be yes.
Don’t judge me until you know my story & know I will always love Dominic Stone.

Coming from the land of myths and legends, where the mountains and valleys pass down their stories.

Ivy Rose fell in love with beautiful words and adventure of stories.

Ivy is happily married and mum of 3 amazing girls. Ivy has been writing for years but finally took the plunge to publish this year after two close author friends gave her the much needed push she needed.